Reform UK holds major conference in Yorkshire this weekend - but Nigel Farage won't be there

I’m A Celebrity’s Nigel Farage

Reform UK founder Nigel Farage will miss the party’s spring conference in Yorkshire this weekend after being invited to the US by former President Donald Trump.

But one of the leading members of his party has hinted that Mr Farage – who quit as Reform’s leader and announced he was retiring from politics in 2021 – is preparing for a comeback as it aims to take votes off the Conservatives at the next General Election.

Alex Phillips, a former MEP and head of media for UKIP who now hosts a show on Talk TV, is among the speakers at Reform’s spring conference at Doncaster Racecourse tomorrow (Saturday February 24).

And hundreds of members are expected after the anti-lockdown, low-tax party’s success in last week’s Parliamentary by-elections, gaining 13% of the vote in Wellingborough and 10% in Kingswood.

Speaking on The Northern Agenda podcast, Ms Phillips said at the conference “what people will see is the characterisation of Reform as just extra-Conservative or another option on the right wing of politics is totally wrong”.

Listen to the full episode about Reform UK on The Northern Agenda podcast below:

She added: “I think that Reform is going to lay out a platter of policies and ambitions that come from the right, come from the left, but designed essentially to be the voice of people who feel like they haven’t been listened to for a long time.”

Mr Farage, who founded Reform UK and led the party before being replaced by Richard Tice, will not attend as he was invited by Donald Trump to attend the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).

Ms Phillips said her friend would be recording a video message to be played at conference as “he can’t be in two places at once, unfortunately”.

“And it’s our spring conference, so as president of the party, we’re very sad he’s not going to be there. And he’s very sad he’s not going to be there.

“But there’s a certain Mr Trump who has asked for his presence in America. And at some point, you’ve got to make a decision about what you’re going to prioritise in your diary, and he’s able to do it both by pre-recording a video message to play out at conference.

“And the big question, of course, on everybody’s lips, is ‘is he coming back?’ He’s not really gone for a start. And no poker player likes to play their ace card at the beginning of the game, let alone show their hand.

“And what I’d say is, this is still Nigel’s dream, it’s still Nigel’s party. And he’s definitely not exited politics. So everyone’s going to have to wait and see what happens going forward.”

Ms Phillips was unveiled last year as the new female face of Reform UK to win back Red Wall Brexiteers with a pledge to hold the Conservative party’s feet to the fire so that “its skin crackles”.

And she explains on the podcast why the party is likely to support an end to the ban on fracking, the controversial method of extracting shale gas that sparked huge local opposition in areas like Lancashire and North Yorkshire.